There is a trend I have noticed emerging from social media for service businesses: we are giving too much information away for free. We lull ourselves into giving away services and expertise that we should be charging for. Before we know it, no one wants to pay for what we have to offer. Does this sound familiar? You try to gain attention to your business by running a smart campaign where you offer a sampling of your service for free - maybe it’s a free consultation or download - and the people who take you up on your offer enjoy it, but never come back for the paid service. Why? Maybe they have gone on to someone similar to you for another free sampling? Maybe they feel they got exactly what they needed from the initial free service.Maybe people have now come to expect to get something for nothing.

There is psychology involved in this. You have heard the saying “you get what you pay for”? What do you think people perceive they are getting when it is free? I think most of us assume that something that costs more must be worth more – we attribute expertise we may not even know about to the person who is charging higher than the other. This is a psychological effect called prestige pricing, which points to a strong correlation between perceived product quality and price. The higher the price the more likely customers are to perceive it has higher quality compared to a lower-priced product. According to psychologist Dr. Peter Shallard, “Being expensive cultivates an aura of expert and elite status”… “setting your price is the psychological equivalent of setting the value of YOU. Your life, your work, that thing you’ve poured your energy and soul into.” He recommends you ask customers who don’t want to pay your set value what they are comparing your price to; you and they may find it is not apples to apples. When Shallard first asked this question he found out his life-changing services were being compared to piano lessons!

Doing a study on cognitive biases can be very enlightening for an entrepreneur.

But with a tough economy people have been forced to settle for less and to become used to it. And maybe we have convinced ourselves we are worth less in the process. So if you are going to offer something for free or discounted, what should you do?

Always include the numerical value in your offer.

Always include the time value in your offer - i.e., the actual time the service will take (example: a thirty-minute consultation for $30). According to a study from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, marketing time sells better than marketing money because our relationship with time is much more personal than our relationship with money.

Make them pay a little. With even a small “buy in” made on the customer’s part, a psychological commitment is made. There will be a tendency to continue with the service because they are already invested and don’t want to feel they have lost that initial $5.00. This is known as loss aversion - studies suggest that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains.

Make them pay more than a little, but include the original price. According to research by cognitive and mathematical psychologist Amos Tversky and Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who also were the pioneers in proving loss aversion, creating an anchoring bias has a very strong psychological effect (the anchor being the original price in this example). If consumers are unsure about the price they will look around for comparative prices – you provide them with the price to compare with.

Offer coupons. Your potential customers will feel they are getting a deal and you still get paid. Again, include monetary and time values in your offer.

Social media posts that show you are well versed in your field – statistics, what famous people say about it/quotes, questions that get people thinking about their need for your service. Do NOT give away your service in bite-sized portions.

If you don't want to believe the psychologists, why not listen to conventional wisdom? This is just one more example of my belief that SEO and Online Marketing rules are like dating ... what is it your mother always told you about why buy the cow and giving away its milk?

Is this just a social media problem?Was this caused by social media and or the economy?What are your thoughts?

Remembering what Mama always said... can keep you from going wrong with your online business.

The following is an ongoing compiled list:

1. "Always date a girl with a good reputation." When buying a previously owned URL make sure it has a good reputation, as years of cached links may show up on the search engine that you don't recognize.

4. "There's always more fish in the sea." Watch your ROI, if your efforts to get a prospective client's attention on social media are falling on deaf ears ... or blind eyes, move on. Social media can take up a lot of your time and money - a big picture strategy should go hand-in-hand with focus.

5. "Don't move too fast; take your time to get to know each other." A sudden influx of SEO activity can actually hurt your search engine rankings in the long run. Also, being hasty can allow mistakes to go unnoticed. It is more important to take your time to be accurate and strategic where your website's information and links will be placed.

6. "It's not nice to lead people on." Make sure the links that you post with your content on social media or websites go directly to the page with the information you are talking about. You will lose people along the way in a string of links.

7. "If you like it, put a ring on it." When liking an article by a higher profile company or individual, make sure you comment with something compelling that will result in views to come back around to your website or social media page.

8. "Beauty is skin deep." Your website may be attractive and innovative, but if it is filled with shallow content, grammatical errors and is hard to navigate, the viewer will lose interest and so will the search engines.

9. "Stay away from Lover's Lane." Don't park your website's URL while you are building your website. Sure, you may make a few bucks, but you have no control of what is going to be linked to your parked domain by the registrar. You may have cached links and content that can harm the brand image you are trying to portray once you go live.

Yesterday, I drove through the pharmacy window, which is quite routine for me as a mother of five. But, I am not only a mother of five, I am a mother of four children who each have or have had their own significant health problems. As I signed my initials over and over again for the prescriptions I was picking up, the familiar face in the window whispered "It's Azsi's last day today." I looked through the window and could see Azsi, the pharmacy manager, was on the phone. So, I scribbled "Azsi we will miss you!!!!", instead of my last initials.

Just in time, Azsi hung up and ran over to the drive through window to tell me how much she would miss ME. She started to tell me how they loved when I came to the pharmacy because I always had a smile on my face. How most people get so frustrated with their one or two kids, but I have five and I always have a smile for them. As she is going on telling me where she is relocating across the country and where I can visit her ... the last seven years come flooding back to my mind. It was her smiling, happy, exuberant "hello Mrs. LeClaire!" that would greet me and give me the strength for the rest of the day, as I drove through her window to pick up prescriptions after being up all night at the hospital with one of my children. I have counted on her happy-to-see-me over the years to pick my spirits up after the letdown of doctor visits where the realization of a chronic condition in one so young hit hard. Over the years she was even greeting my children by name, noticing how they had grown older, and that they looked healthier. I don't know whose smile came first, but I happen to know she cared about every "patient" of hers.

I don't need the pick me up so often anymore, my kids are older, healthier and stronger; enabling me to grow my business and really enjoy satisfaction and success in my own life. I guess I have just come to take for granted Azsi's smiling face. But, yesterday it hit me hard to lose her. I never thought I would cry like a baby at a drive-through window with the face on the other side.

Azsi asked me if I would still be using her pharmacy after she left, my response was "are you kidding? I wouldn't dream of going anywhere else!" I have seen how she has passed on her loving nature to her staff. I could go anywhere for the medicine, maybe (and that's a big stretch) someone else could fill my orders more accurately, but that really isn't why I chose their store.

Social media has become a lot like that drive-through window. I have observed with local businesses that word-of-mouth is really the most powerful new business driver. A business owner with the same care and love for their customers can translate that to the online world. Genuinely caring about the individual behind the like or follow and following up with sincerity can go a long way. I couldn't help but tell you the story about Azsi, and that's what we humans do, when we experience an out-of-the-ordinary connection, we have to share it! I have experienced this give-and-take with many of my own clients who are thousands of miles of way.

So how about you? What can you do to show you care on your social media pages?

90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know while only 14% trust advertising.We can help you with effective social media marketing.

With an estimated 900 million users on facebook world-wide as of May 2012 and over 140 million active users on twitter, you know you need to be generating some social media posts for your small business.Combined with the fact that it is free to use, how can you ignore this opportunity?

But, running a small business is time consuming enough, how do you come up with content for this new source of marketing? Here are a few tips:

Is there a link in that?Throughout your day, with everything that you do, be asking yourself, "is there a link in that?"

Did the person you just meet have a website of their own that you can include in a shout out to them?

Ex: It was such a pleasure meeting [John Doe], you made me think about [some aspect about John's business]. http://www.johnswebsite.com

Be sure to like John's facebook page, and follow him on twitter - hopefully he will do the same, and now you are visible to all of John's customers.

Did the article related to your industry you just read have a link online that you can post and make a comment on your thoughts about it? No? does the magazine or newspaper it was in have a website? Use that one.

linking to higher exposure brands, helps your exposure

Like and Follow

Does the segment on TV with the expert related to your field have a link?...or the TV show?

Post that link and share your thoughts on the segment on your social media pages.

Like and follow the expert, but try not to blatantly advertise your business on their facebook page, tell them what it is you liked about what they said and then include your website link with discretion.

Is there a page on your website describing a service or product that corresponds to a quirky thought, and idea, tips or fun facts?

Do you have a blog? Post the individual link that your website platform generates for each blog post with a catchy description of what the blog is about. How do you come up with blog posts? Use many of the tips I shared above.

Ask For FeedbackIs there some aspect of your business that you wonder about how the customer experiences it? Ask. Don't forget to use #hashtags on twitter.

Plan AheadIf the prospect of posting social media content every day still seems daunting, you can make it easier by setting aside a time to come up with messages you want posted in one sitting for the whole month. Services like Hootsuite allow you to link to and schedule future posts for all of your social media.

You may also be relieved to hear according to Chris Luo, the Head of Global SMB Marketing at Facebook, in a webinar I recently attended, it is not necessary to post every day, "at minimum around twice a week is enough." If you post too much you may start to be ignored or appear impersonal.

Get HelpIf this still sounds something you know you need to do for your small business, but you just can't find your way out of what you need to do and do well, then I am here to help! MC Design & Services, LLC can manage your social media marketing for you, while at the same time working intimately with your business. Ask about our affordable rates and how you can choose the budget that is right for you.

"It's a great feeling knowing you are taking care of things for us.You give us peace of mind so we can keep on doing what we do best."

“Rebecca has provided a valuable service to our business by filling the needfor marketing and website development. Her skills are efficient, accurate, timely,and very worthwhile for any small business. She manages our various priorities with great flexibility.”

There are a lot of abbreviations thrown around about how to get your website noticed. The two main things you will hear that you need are SEO and/or SEM. Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably. But, they are not the same thing.

Here is an explanation of what they are:

SEO - Search Engine OptimizationSearch Engine Optimization is the employment of techniques to get your website found on search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo...even Facebook) on the top of the first page of organic links.

What are organic links do you ask? Using Google as an example, they are all the links that come up as results to a search query just under the paid Google Ads on the top of the page.Ex: If you were a plumber in Lansing, MI and someone in your area needed to find a plumber, they would go to Google or Bing, type in "plumber Lansing, MI" or "fix broken pipe Lansing, MI" and you would want your website or business information to come up in the links that are provided by the search engine.

Not all search engines operate the same, having assistance from someone who understands the elements your website needs for each of the "heavy hitting" search engines will help your standing.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing or Online MarketingSearch Engine Marketing is paid advertising such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc. OR campaigns to get attention or a buzz going about your business, which may have more to do with social networks (also search engines in their own right).

A lot of money can be thrown away on these kinds of ads. Having someone who understands how search engines operate and determine what is a relevant result for a search, and how the average Joe tries to find information will save you money and time. It also helps to know where to place these ads and what method of display is best for your audience.

Creating a buzz or following for your business takes creativity and knowing the current trends in the plugged in world. Social Networks are a good tool for this.

At MC Design & Services, LLC we will always recommend you pay close attention to your SEO standing. We can help you decide whether dollars spent on SEM are necessary and how big that budget really needs to be. From our experience we have seen clients benefit from our SEO service to the point that they no longer needed print or online ads.

If you don't I'm sure you will "google" that to find out. Send me the answer in an email before July 10th and I will send the first 10 respondents $100.00 in FREE advertising with Google Adwords! You can not already have an AdWords account to recieve the voucher. This is a great way to test whether search engine marketing is right for your small business and worth the cost.

Already have an AdWords account? Send this offer to a friend and tell them to say you sent them and I will take $10.00 off your next invoice or service with MC Design & Services, LLC!

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** As always if you need help with setting up the google adwords account and creating a campaign, we can help and you can afford it! This offer is NOT subject to any paid service.